The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5638, 25 April 1879, Page 4

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

Wb yesterday published a telegram from Napier, stating that Mr. Ormond had received a requisition from the electors of Olive inviting him to address them at Waipawa. The honorable member’s reply is well worthy of a passing comment. His intention was doubtless to answer his constituents in all seriousness, but nevertheless his words will, without straining, bear an ironically facetious interpretation. He says, in substance, that although it would have given him pleasure to have delivered the asked for address at Waipawa at an earlier date, he has delayed doing so in expectation that the members of the Government would let the country into the secret of their intended policy for next session. He brings to the minds of the electors the fact that Sir George Grey has always advocated the right of the people to be taken into the confidence of the Government at the earliest possible date, and points out that such confidence was never more necessary than at the present juncture when there is not only a certainty of deficient revenue, but a possibility, not to say probability, of our relations with the native race leading to difficulties of no ordinary magnitude. Mr. Ormond feels sure that, under the circumstances, the Government cannot much longer postpone the duty of giving the country some information with regard to their intentions ; and he therefore thinks it will be more satisfactory for his constituents to wait until the Ministerial proposals have been made public. Constituents and representatives could then talk the matter over, and determine on the best course of action. At the same time he expresses his willingness to mount the platform before Ministers have spoken if his constituents should desire him to do so. That Mr. Ormond wrote in the above strain in perfect good faith we implicitly believe, but the general public, including the electors of Clive, may be inclined to think that he was endeavoring to have a quiet little joke at their expense. All the world knows that Sir George Grey and one or two of his colleagues have times without number asserted c 1 (,he right of the people to be taken “ into the confidence of the Government ” at the earliest possible date ; but unfortunately, if we may judge of the future by the past, this remarkably tall talking should bo regarded as of literally no value whatever. If the Premier’s leadership had been marked by a multitude of brilliant successes, and by failures few and far between and of insignificant import, we should not even then have expected a candid and full explanation of his intentions. It is, unless we are very much mistaken, a marked peculiarity of his character that, notwithstanding the parade of simplicity and openness which is generally to be found in his public utterances, he rarely shows his hand either to friend or foe when he can avoid doing so. there may not, after all, be very much to conceal, but what there is “our real Governor” greatly prefers keeping to himself. To suppose that at the present juncture the country is to expect an explanation which must necessarily involve a confession—which must tell of egregious failures in the past in order to accoun for proposed action in the future, is to display an amount of confidence in Sir George Grey’s political honesty, which we are sure will be shared in by few of those who take an interest in public affairs. The time, of course, must come when the Ministerial policy will have to be divulged, but the evil hour will be delayed as far as practicable. This disposition to thrust away the inevitable has already been amply made manifest. During the past few months there has been a very general expression of opinion that Parliament should be called together with all convenient dispatch, but up to the present moment Ministers have given no sign of their willingness to depart from the bad precedent of former years. And yt?t it has not been without good reason that this cry for an early meeting of Parliament has been raised. In the first place, though it has boo n strongly urged in certain quarters that all danger of an actual collision ifith Ihe Maoris is at an end, and though wo' are not inclined to deny that by the display of great prudence and forbearance pe.ace may be preserved, there will still be grieve questions to be settled with regard to the claims which the natives have put forward with so much audacity. The country dreads leaving those claims for settlement in the hands of the present Ministry, and believes that there should be a full statement of their nature and extent before the representatives of the people. But, perhaps the gravest source of anxiety at the present moment is the financial position of the colony. The Colonial Treasurer, not able to appreciate the causes which led to a large augmentation of the land revenue during a portion of the last financial year, grievously blundered in his estimate of what was to be expected in this. A very considerable deficiency must be looked for as certain. The amount can even now be estimated with some degree of accuracy, and the sooner Parliament is put in possession of the Treasurer’s proposals, and deals with them, the better for the welfare of the country. But in spite of Mr. Ormond’s belief in Sir George Grey’s anxiety that the people, and, we suppose, the people’s representatives, also should be taken into the confidence of the Government as soon as possible, we hold to our opinion that no Ministerial secrets will be revealed before the opening of Parliament, and that that muoh-to-be-wished for event will be put off as long as possible. Sir George and his merry men delight in serving the people. They proved it by the pertinacity with which they stuck to office last session, and they will prove it again by

postponing the meeting of Parliament. It may be predicted that a few weeks after that takes place their powers ot service as representatives will not be enhanced by any official position. The prent generation and the “unborn mil- “ lions” of the Premier’s dreams will be the better for the change.